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Saturday, 26 October 2013

It
is the ability of fear to foresee that set the institution of planning in human
life.

Have you seen a race of
prey and predator? It is interesting to note that most of the times prey win despite
their low capability compared to their predator. The reason is the survival
mechanism given to them by nature, fear. Fear starts neurobiological chain
reaction in the body which releases the chemicals that cause a racing heart,
fast breathing, energized muscles and many other things that make them capable
to exceed their normal performance. In other words, fear switches the mind of
prey from unconscious to conscious state while predator remain in its normal
unconscious state of autopilot and could not compete with prey because predator
is doing its daily duty. But when predator is really hungry; its survival
mechanism is also turned on as a result of potential threat on its own
survival.

Fear is not objective
reality but perception of one's mind. It is triggered by a possible threat and toggles
the mind from autopilot mode to conscious state to take exceptional emergency
decisions and act accordingly.

I heard a story about a
man who went to learn consciousness from a Sufi saint. The saint had a coconut
tree in his garden. He asked the man “if you really want to learn the way of
attaining consciousness then climb the tree or leave for your home.” The man
thought him mad but had no options. He travelled a lot to find him. As he was a
victim of acrophobia, a condition in which a person dreads height, he could not
climb but he had one greater fear; fear of calling escaper owing to his large
ego which drove him to take a chance. As
soon as the man reached height of 10 feet above the ground, the saint started
shouting “Be brave for few more moments and you’ll succeed” because he saw the
shadow of acrophobia overpowering him. He closed his eyes and continued to
climb until reached the top. After reaching the top, he began to climb down but
when he arrived at the height of 10 feet from the ground, the saint again
started shouting “Be careful”. He finally approached the ground and with tint
of anger on his face hurried towards the bench where the saint was relaxing
lying down. He yelled at the saint “you ruthless psycho at the height of 10
feet you had much concerns and when I was on the top you were carelessly lying on
the bench.” The saint replied calmly “When I first reminded you the shifting
from unconscious to conscious was going on and quitting at that stage would
have stopped the process. It was my duty to help you attain consciousness. When
I warned second time I saw the shifting of mind again initiated as a result of
your overconfidence on initial success. At the top you were already in the
conscious state due to survival mechanism of fear gifted by nature to
everyone.”

Fear is the secret to
consciousness. The first experience of consciousness might have occurred in the
moments of fear (who knows?). In fact, all the great things human achieved are
driven out of fear. The first greatest discovery was fire to protect from
deadly wild animals, so was the weapons made out of stones during Stone Age. Huge
risk and massive loss of lives might compel the primitive humans to shift to
agriculture instead of hunting for their need of food. The first shelter might
have made as a preventive measure from potential dangers and still buildings
are made as protective measures. It would not be hyperbolic to say that fear is
the cause of human advancement. In fact, fear is the nature’s way of teaching. The
word ‘fear’ is actually derived from Proto-Indo-European ‘per-’ which
means ‘to attempt, try, research, risk.’

Fear is a state of mind
which calls upon the faculty of imagination to impose its long lasting
impression. Probably, the faculty of imagination might have used first time
during the mind state of fear. In fact, fear is itself a form of imagination
which draws the mind on extremes of negative situation exactly in the same
manner in terms of exaggeration, variety and vividness of mental images. It is
found that centers of fear and imagination lie in the same region of brain called
amygdala.

Fear is a source of
creativity. The fact is acknowledged by famous filmmaker, Shekhar Kapur, who
portrayed the story of the great Queen Elizabeth on cellulite screen. According
to him, panic is the great access for creativity. It is the only way of get rid
of one’s mind and harness the truth which lies somewhere in the Universe beyond
mind. He said “In the state of panic, you’re praying to the Universe, because
you’re praying you’re going to access creativity which comes from outside yourself
from the Universe.” Here, getting rid of one’s mind means coming out of
autopilot mode having prewritten answers which have limited scope in the
situation that is not going to lead anywhere in significant way. The only
solution is coming up with new answers which need consciousness. Nature set up
a system in every being for this kind of situation to switch the mind from
unconscious autopilot mode to conscious thinking mode, called fear. The
switching takes time. It requires courage and patience to stand for those
moments. If one looses, the switching stops and flight response is triggered. On
the other side, consciousness is invoked and fight response is activated.

The ideology of Karen
Thompson Walker, author of the bestseller “The Age of Miracles,” is also in consistent
with the idea of fear as spring of creativity. She sees fear as unintentional
story telling which characters are we, ourselves. She states that in similar to
storytelling, fear has also beginning, middle and end. It comprises all the elements
of story such as imagination, suspense and mental time travelling.

What is fiery about
fear? Ironically, the known and the unknown. It is the known experiences
whether self or shared as well as the enormous possibilities of unknown which
onsets the reactions of fear in an individual. Fear of known experiences is
conditioned state of mind.

Mark Barad, a scientist
of UCLA, conducted a conditioning experiment on rats in which an electric shock
was applied to metal floor of rats’ cage along with a feeble noise. It did not
take long for the rats to brace themselves for the shocks as soon as they heard
the noise. It is because the noise is associated with electric shock deep in
their unconscious mind. In the language of neurologist, it is said that their
amygdalas paired the noise with the shock, and the noise created a fear
response. Further experiments were done on the same rats. This time, rats were
exposed to same feeble noise but without electric shock. Habitual hearing of
noise without the shock made the rats fearless once again. Similar experiment
was done on a little child, Albert, who had no fear of laboratory's test
animals to induce fear of white rats in him by John Watson, an American
psychologist. Whether it is psychology or neurology, one thing is certain that
fear is a mind state and is prone to conditioning.

Fear is nothing but a
state of mind. Like any mind state, it could be changed. Familiarity is the key
to lock the hazardous effect of fear. Albert Bandura ranked the fourth
most-frequently cited psychologist, behind B. F. Skinner, Sigmund
Freud, and Jean Piaget, in a survey conducted in 2002 among the 100 most
eminent psychologist of the 20th century. He believes taking small
steps of exposure to get familiar with the object of fear would cure one from
that particular fear. He kept snake in a room and to take out the fear of
snakes from subjects. He asks the subject “there is a beautiful snake inside
the room. Let’s walk in to see it.” The subject freaks out but Bandura opens
the door slightly and shows the snake to the subject through a mirror and makes
him comfortable of the sight. He, then, opens the door widely and inspires the
subject to peep inside to have glimpses of snake. He, further, arranges the
sight from a distance of five feet and slowly cutting the distances to nearly
one foot. Now, he takes out gloves from the drawer beside and wears them along
with the subject to touch the snake finally. The very moment the subject
touches the snake, the fear vanishes. He called the process of conditioning for
fear extinction as guided mastery. The subject not only gets rid of fear of
snake but his anxiety also reduces in other aspect of life. He gains a new
confidence, gets tougher and become more resilient to failure in his life.
Bandura called this confidence, self-efficacy and defines it as one’s belief in
one’s ability to succeed in specific situations. One’s sense of self-efficacy
can play a major role in how one approaches goals, tasks and challenges.

The picture of fear is
likely to turn into reality when the emotion of belief is blended in the brew
of negative fantasy. In the words of Napoleon Hill “If it is true that all
thought has a tendency to clothe itself in its physical equivalents (and this
is true, beyond any reasonable room for doubt), it is equally true that thought
impulses of fear and poverty cannot be translated into terms of courage and
financial gain.”

Nature has endowed man
with absolute control over one thing and that is thought. This fact, coupled
with the additional fact that everything which human creates starts in the form
of thoughts, lead one very near to the principle by which fear may be mastered.
On the other hand, indecision crystallizes fear and there is some kind of
action for any form of fear. Determine your cause of fear and associated
action. Take action promptly. Be decisive.

Fear is not an
objective reality but a state of mind. A state of mind is something one assumes.
Like any mind state, it is subject to control and direction. There are many
forms of fear seen by human’s psyche. The prominent one that encountered in the
journey of success are fear of poverty, fear of criticism, fear of ill health,
fear of loss of love, fear of age, fear of death, fear of lack of ability etc.
In fact, these are not fears but lame excuses for inaction. It is an old
proverb that when there is a will; there is a way. In case of fear, one needs
to be brave for few more minutes and one succeeds. It is said that success
begins after overcoming fear.

Let me tell you some
stories that happened in real time, surpassed these lame excuses and licked the
taste of success. As far as excuses are
concerned all great companies whether Microsoft or Apple were started in
garages only with great idea. No one in the history was ever praised by cent
per cent; Jesus was crucified and Socrates was poisoned. David Copperfield was penned after the
tragedy faced by Charles Dickens in his first love. Socrates once told
that one should indulge in love; if accepted, one will be on higher planes of
consciousness through love and if rejected then also he will be on higher
planes but through philosophy. Excuses of young age could be countered by
citing examples of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and old ages by Colonel Sanders
who founded KFC at the age of 65. No one is ever in the history is blessed with
immortality. So, mourn over inevitable is not justifiable by any means. Walt
Disney, Albert Einstein, Thomas Alva Edison and many others were initially
declined for their inability.

Dhirubhai Ambani, when he was only 16, for a livelihood, started his
career as a dispatch clerk with the A. Besse &
Co. before becoming the distributor for Shell
Products. He was later promoted as a manager in an oil filling station at the
port of Aden. Dhirubhai felt tempted to speculate but had no money for
that and was still raw for trading. To learn the tricks of the trade he offered
to work free for a Gujarati trading firm. There he learnt accounting, book
keeping, preparing shipping papers and documents, and dealing with banks and
insurance companies. skills that would come handy when he launched himself into
trading about a decade afterwards in Bombay. "More than anything else I
learnt that nothing big can ever be achieved without money, influence and power
and I also learnt that money, influence and power alone cannot achieve anything
in life, big or small, without a certain soft, delicate, sensitive,
understanding human touch in all one's deeds and words." Dhirubhai was now
26 years,

A young boy
born in small district of India lost his father at age of one. His family
financial position was very tight. He had to cross a river to reach school for
study. There were times when he had no penny to pay for boat. He swam lifting
his books above the water. He, later, became the second elected Prime Minister of
Republic of India. He was Lal Bahadur Shastri.

John Forbes Nash, Jr., an Americanmathematician, shared the 1994Nobel
Memorial Prize in Economic Scienceswith game theorists Reinhard SeltenandJohn
Harsanyi. He suffered from paranoid
schizophrenia in which a person usually talk with
hallucinated characters that did not exist in real life. Nearly 10 years of his
life was
spent in mental asylum where he was administeredinsulin
shock therapy along with antipsychoticmedications.
His story was captured on silver screen in Hollywood movie, ‘A Beautiful Mind.’

Stephen
Hawking, anEnglishtheoretical physicist
considered the most talent after Einstein. He was not initially successful
academically.With
time, he began to show considerable aptitude for scientific subjects, and
inspired by Tahta, decided to study mathematics at university.His
father advised him to study medicine, concerned that there were few jobs for
mathematics graduates. As it was not possible to read mathematics there at the
time, Hawking decided to study physics and chemistry. Despite his headmaster's
advice to wait till the next year, he was awarded a scholarship after taking
the examinations in March 1959. He was diagnosed ofmotor
neurone disease related to amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis(ALS) at 21 during
his first year as adoctoral student. At the time doctors gave him a life expectancy of two
years. The problems worsened he had difficulty walking without support, and his
speech was almost unintelligible. Now he is almost entirely paralyzed and
communicates through aspeech generating device but still working with enthusiasm.

I’ve learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away fear.

Monday, 30 September 2013

How do we know what we know? To know something, we must first of
all establish what we accept as data, and what we consider requires definition
and proof, that is, we must determine what we know already, and what we wish to
know. And, we know from the very first step towards cognition that a man is
struck by two obvious facts: The existence of the world in which he lives and
the existence of consciousness in himself. Neither the one nor the other can he
prove or disprove, but both of them are facts for him. This is all we have the
right to accept as data. All the rest requires proof of its existence and
definition on the basis of these two data we already possess. The direct
outcome of these two fundamental data; the existence in us of a psychological
life, i.e. sensations, representations, concepts, thinking, feeling, desires
and so on, and the existence of the world outside us is a division of
everything we know into subjective and objective, a division perfectly clear to
our ordinary perception. Everything we take to be the properties of the world,
we call objective, and everything we take as properties of our inner life, we
call subjective. The 'subjective world' we perceive directly; it is within us.
The 'objective world' we represent to ourselves as existing outside of us is
most clearly denned by the fact that we perceive it as existing in time and in
space and cannot perceive it or represent it to ourselves apart from these
conditions. Usually, we say that the objective world consists of things and
phenomena, i.e. of things and of changes in the state of things. A phenomenon
exists for us in time, a thing exists in space. But such a division of the
world into subjective and objective does not satisfy us. By means of reasoning we
can establish that, actually, we only know our own sensations, representations
and concepts, and that we perceive the objective world by projecting outside of
ourselves the presumed causes of our sensations. Further, we find that our
cognition of both the subjective and the objective world may be true or false,
correct or incorrect. The criterion for determining the correctness or
incorrectness of our cognition of the subjective world is the form of
relationship of one sensation to others, and the force and character of the
sensation itself. In other words, the correctness of one sensation is verified
by comparing it with another of which we are more sure, or by the intensity and
the taste of a given sensation. The criterion for determining the correctness or
incorrectness of our cognition of the objective world is exactly the same. It
seems to us that we define things and phenomena of the objective world by means
of comparing them one with another; and we imagine that we discover the laws of
their existence apart from ourselves and our cognition of them. But this is an
illusion. We know nothing about things separately from ourselves and we have no
means of verifying the correctness or incorrectness of our cognition of the
objective world apart from sensations.

Since the remotest antiquity, the question of our relation to the
true causes of our sensations has been the main subject of philosophical
research. Men have always felt that they must find some solution of this
question, some answer to it. These answers alternated between two poles,
between a complete denial of the causes themselves, and the assertion that the
causes of sensations lie in ourselves i.e. we have free will and not in
anything external and the admission that we know these causes, that they are
contained in the phenomena of the external world, that these very phenomena
constitute the causes of sensations, and that the cause of observable phenomena
themselves lies in some subtle forms of external world i.e. fatalism.

In simple words, free will is the ability to select a course of
action as a means of fulfilling some desire which is under control of oneself.
David Hume, put it as a power of acting or of not acting, according to the
determination of one’s will while fatalism is the doctrine that all events are
preordained and predestined in such a way that human beings do not have
control over them. Nietzsche described it as an attitude of resignation in
the face of some future event or events which are thought to be inevitable.

A huge debate is going on with lots of argument: both in favor and
against. Natalie Barney sees fatalism as the lazy
man's way of accepting the inevitable. Bill O'Reilly denied the concept of free
will by saying “You don't have free will when you have lung cancer.” Alan
Moore’s opinion is “As far as I can see, it's not important that we have
free will, just as long as we have the illusion of free will to stop us going
mad.” There are many who do not share either of these
extreme views and hold a place midway between free will and fatalism. Kant established that our sensations must have causes in
the external world, but that we are unable, and shall never be able, to
perceive these causes by sensory means, i.e. by the means which serve us to
perceive phenomena. Jawaharlal Nehru put it as “Life is like a game of cards.
The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.”

Life only thinks about itself. Life is only concerned about
itself. Life everywhere faces two problems: survival and propagation. Life is
being busy to resolve these fundamental issues or else goes extinct. In the
words of Charles Darwin, “It is survival to the fittest.” Life in humans has
some addition features due to having a larger brain in humans as compared to
animals. The misery in humans hampers the quality and performance in
terms of survival and propagation.

Thus, by determining
everything we know is about survival and propagation through our senses in
terms of space and time which is indeed confirmed by Special Theory of
relativity that space and time are not properties of the world, but merely
properties of our perception of the world by means of sense organs. In the
words of Einstein, “Time and space are modes by which we think and not
conditions in which we live.” Consequently, it is we who invest it with these
properties when we sense and perceive it. Quantum Physics, further,
acknowledges the role of an observer in the observed physical world. The
observed physical world is described rather by a mathematical structure
that can best be characterized as representing information and
propensities: some information about all the possible choices is
simultaneously present in the quantum state, and the possibility that any
one of the mutually exclusive alternatives might be pertinent. Whichever
choice the experimenter eventually makes, the associated set of
predictions is assumed to hold.

According to Kant, everything we find in external world is put
into it by ourselves. We do not know what the world is like independently of
ourselves. Moreover, our conception of things has nothing in common with the
things as they are in themselves, apart from them. And, most important of all,
our ignorance of things in them is due not to our insufficient knowledge, but
to the fact that we are totally unable to have a correct knowledge of the world
by means of sense-perception which is in congruence with the Principle of
Uncertainty. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle states that one cannot
simultaneously know the position and momentum of an object with arbitrarily
high precision. The more precisely the position is determined, the less
precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa.

Sir Roger Penrose, studying the physical basis of consciousness
applying quantum physics and Einstein's general theory of relativity on Plank's
scale, figured out that consciousness involves a factor which is neither
deterministic nor probabilistic but non-computable. Conscious choices and
understanding may be non-computable and life may be seen as a combination of
deterministic pre-conscious processes acted on by a non-computable influence.

It could be deduced that one can never know whether free will or
fatalism. It is also clear that the main question is not about the free will or
fatalism but to avoid the misery or sorrow in life. All schools of philosophy
and religions are directed to solve this problem. The theory of free will,
fatalism or concoction of both was devised to tackle this problem. It is now a well establish fact that
relaxation in concepts of absolute free will and fatalism appeals most of the
people and could better cope with misery in majority. When Yagyavalkya, ancient
Upanisada sage of India, was asked about free will or fatalism, he said “The
concept of free will and fatalism are like two wheels of a cart; if anyone is
missing, the cart only moves in circle- round and round. To ensure proper
movement on path, one needs to use both the wheels.”

The same confusion was put before Muhammad and he asked the person
to lift one of his legs. The person lifted his left leg. Again, the Prophet
asked the person to lift another leg but he is bound and could not lift his
leg. Initially, the person was free to lift his leg; in fact, he had options to
choose whether he wanted to lift his left leg or right leg. As soon as he
chose, he became bound. The concoction of free will and fatalism could also be
understood by considering a sailboat analogy. A sailor sets the sail in a
certain way; the direction the boat sails is determined by the action of the
wind on the sail. One cannot change the direction of the wind but can adjust
the sail to be in right direction.

One could think beyond space and time but could only express
within the limits of space and time. Conscious choices may be non-computable
but expressed algorithmically through deterministic or probabilistic
statements. It could better be understood through biology of brain. The newest
area of human brain is neocorex. The neocortex is responsible for rational and
analytical thought and language. The limbic brain is responsible for all of
feelings, such as trust and loyalty. It is also responsible for all human
behavior and all decision-making, but it has no capacity for language. The
communication takes place directly with the part of the brain that controls
decision making, and the language part of the brain allows rationalizing those
decisions. The part of the brain that controls the feelings has no capacity for
language. It is this disconnection that makes putting feelings into words so
hard. Again, the part of the brain that controls decision-making doesn't
control language, so we rationalize. Rationally, one knows that one’s
explanation isn't the real reason. So, enlightened people could not express the
higher level of consciousness in words and keep silence over the subject and
when speaks one’s version is found to be different from another enlightened
one’s rationally as in the case of Muhammad’s explanation and sailboat analogy.

There are also the cases where absolute free will was experienced;
that is why, statements such as “Thou art That” and “I and My Father are One”
were stated independently in different cultures and religion. It is not possible to obtain absolute free
will without entering in the realm of occultism and very few would have such
psychology-type to combat misery in one’s life.

Basically, human beings can be broadly classified into four types
according to their psycho-somatic conditions: the active type, the mystic type,
the philosophic type and devotional type. This classification is based on the
predominance of one or the other three aspects of the human mind: the will, the
intellect and emotions. In the light of latest biological researches, the
active type, devotional type, the philosophic type and the mystic type can be
attributed to neurological pathway dominated by four major neurotransmitters:
testosterone, estrogen, serotonin and dopamine respectively.

Any single theory or concept could not meet the different
requirements of all pyscho-somatic types. So, it is obvious to formulate
various theories and concepts to alleviate sorrow and misery in one's
life keeping in mind the
necessities of different psycho-somatic
types.

You have your way. I have my way. As for
the right way, the correct way and the only way, it doesn't exist.

Saturday, 14 September 2013

Steam
without chamber and water without dam could not produce electricity, so is man
without discipline could not achieve success.

Discipline
is collection of scattered components of personality within and channeling them
towards success by being a part of the system. Discipline is in fact derived
from proto-Indo-European word “dek-”
which means “acceptance.” Discipline is the acceptance of the fact that
channeling requires confinement; a sense of sacrifice for something better; a
sense of hardship to forge a character as steel.

Gary
Keller and Jay Papasan in their book ‘The One Thing’ state “this pervasive idea
that the successful person is disciplined person who leads a disciplined life
is a lie. The truth is we don’t need any more discipline than we already have.
We just need to direct and manage it a little better.” And they are right.

There
is a principle in physics which says that under constant volume, increase in
pressure is directly proportional to increase in temperature and upon this
principle, pressure cooker are made to cook the food fast as compared with
traditional cooking. A gas pressure cooker is a device to cook food by raising
pressure and subsequently raising temperature inside the cooker placed over the
ordinary flame produced by domestic gas. It contains a metal base packed with
all sides except top, a lid to cover the top after placing the food inside the
cooker, a gasket or sealing ring and a weight. The lid has an opening for
escaping the gas and releasing the extra pressure. The working is very simple.
Food is placed inside the cooker along with some water and is closed with lid
and sealing ring. Weight is put over the opening in the lid. The pressure
cooker is now put on flame. Due to the heat of the flame, the temperature
starts rising inside the cooker; the increasing temperature makes the water
boil and evaporate. Since there is a weight on the opening in the lid, steam
could not escape and increase the pressure inside and the increasing pressure
raises the temperature. The process continues till the required pressure and
temperature obtained. When the pressure exceeds the required limit, it lifts
the weight on the lid and let some steam escape to maintain the required
pressure and temperature inside. The lifting of weight and escaping of steam
produce a whistling sound and it is the number of this whistling sound that
determines whether the food is cooked inside or not. The same principle is
applied in steam engines to run turbines for producing electricity or moving
wagons on rails through railways.

What
will happen if lid is not properly closed or there is defective sealing ring?
The steam leak and required pressure and temperature will never be achieved.
And, what will happen if weight is fixed or opening in the lid is closed? The
cooker will burst due to excess pressure builds inside. The case is same with
discipline. Lack of discipline incapables us to achieve success and on the
other hand, excessive discipline breaks the system. We need optimal amount of
discipline in order to succeed and we are already born with that. We must take
care that it doesn’t leak through procrastination or other ways. In fact, we
always do not need discipline; sometimes we have to relax it as marching over
the bridge by the army. When army marches, all the members move their legs
together in synchronous manner; all the left legs put together and all the
right legs put together and this is dangerous for the bridge because of the
pressure applied by the simultaneous feet at a time.

I
think all of us know that it is easy to break a single stick and very hard to
break a bundle of sticks. This is also reflected in the potential damage of
bridge by collective feet pressure of a battalion at a time and the collective
pressure of steam inside the cooker while lifting the weight placed upon the
lid. The purpose of unity is to focus on a common point and discipline is
involved in it. Discipline is like a magnifying glass which concentrates the
beams of sunlight on a point and helps burn a match stick without rubbing on
match box. Focusing, channeling, directing or unifying mean stopping the
leakage and make them available for our purpose. Discipline involves sacrifice
and priority. Discipline helps us in reserving our vital strength and
enthusiasm for more useful and productive things. In the words of Brian Tracy, “Discipline
is having dinner before dessert.”

Discipline
doesn’t mean to work mechanically like a robot with certain sets of programs
pre-installed in the body. Discipline doesn’t imply to follow rules like a
zombie but assimilation of principle to break the rules when necessary to
sustain the principle. Discipline is courage to make a right decision for
betterment in long terms rather than enjoying short term gratifications. Paulo Coelho put it as just a choice between
what one wants now and what one wants most.

Monkey-hunters
use a box with an opening at the top, big enough for the monkey to slide its
hand in. Inside the box are nuts. The monkey grabs the nuts and now its hand
becomes a fist. The monkey tries to get its hand out but the opening is big
enough for the hand to slide in, but too small for the fist to come out. Now
the monkey has a choice, either to let go off the nuts and be free forever or
hang on to the nuts and get caught. Guess what it picks every time? It hangs on
to the nuts and gets caught. The monkey thinks that it is free and have right
to get what it wants and now the thing of desire is in its hand. It seems happy
but its happiness dries out as it get caught and put into cage for life long as
a showpiece for entertainment of others. Epictetus said “Freedom is not
procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired but controlling the desire.”
Discipline is needed for not getting trapped in the web of unending lust and
remain free. Discipline is yajna in which momentary happiness is sacrificed to
get everlasting happiness.

Discipline
is sense of love and responsibility. Shiva Khera said “Discipline is loving
firmness. Sometimes you have to be unkind to be kind: Not all medicine is sweet,
not all surgery is painless, but we have to take it.” Giraffe gives birth to a
baby giraffe while standing; the baby hits the hard ground directly out of the
comfort of mother's womb, and sits on the ground. The first thing mother does
is to get behind the baby and give him a hard kick. The baby gets up, but his
legs are weak and wobbly and the baby falls down. Mother goes behind again and
gives him one more kick. The baby gets up but sits down again. Mother keeps
kicking till the baby gets on its feet and starts moving. It is hard for a
mother to do such thing but it is necessary because she knows that the only chance of survival
for the baby in the forest is to get on its feet otherwise it will be eaten up
by other wild animals.

Discipline
is hardship too. Butterflies feel very pain and trouble while coming out of
cocoons.The pain is unbearable; almost nearly to die but it is necessary for
their wings and survival. Without this process, they would die. Similarly, in
one's life, there are many situations when one has to take hard decisions
because they are necessary to sustain life. Discipline is the ability to
willingly make sacrifice in the present to secure the success in the future. In
other words, discipline is bringing the future into the present so that
something could be done about it in now.

Discipline
is self-mastery which involves determination, hardwork and persistence. Michaelangelo put it, “If people knew how
hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem wonderful at all.” Calvin
Coolidge said “Nothing will take the place of persistence. Talent will not:
Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not:
Unrewarded genius is a proverb. Education will not: The world is full of
educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

Mahatma
Gandhi in his autobiography confessed about a time when he felt double shame
because of his carnal lust. His father was suffering from fistula and he was
one of the principal attendants with the duties of a nurse which mainly
consisted dressing the wound, giving the medicines and massaging his leg untill
his father fell asleep. This was also the time when his wife was expecting a
baby. He mentioned that while every night his hands were busy massaging his
father's legs, his mind was hovering about the bedroom and that too at a time
when religion, medical science, and commonsense alike forbade sexual
intercourse and when relieved from duty, went straight to the bedroom. His
father's condition had been deteorating day by day and then the dreadful night
came. As usual he was giving the massage, this time his uncle offered to
relieve him and he gladly accepted and went straight to the bedroom, woke his sleeping wife up but within five or
six minutes, the news came that his father was no more. He realized that if
animal passion had not blinded him, he should have been spared the torture of
separation from his father during his last moments. He took it as a blot that
he would have never been able to efface or forget. But he overcame that desire
and duing his later stages of life he slept naked with naked ladies beside him
on a single bed without any thought on the subject in his mind. He wrote “It
took me long to get free from the shackles of lust, and I had to pass through
many ordeals before I could overcome it..... All these efforts did not seem to
bear much fruits, but when I look back upon the past I feel that the final
resolution was the cumulative effect of those unsuccessful strivings.”

Do
not surrender to initial failures because to give up when get tired is a easy
way to live but winners always go on. Winners are committed and put on pressure
not for winning but for hardwork and preparation. Steve Jobs said “It is
impossible to connect the dots forward
but it is very very clear looking backwards ten years later.” When a wall falls
due to hitting hundred times, it is not because of the hundredth hit but it is
due to the cumulative effects of all hits. And so is the case with every endeavor
as Mahatma Gandhi admitted.

In
the movie 'Invictus' Nelson Mandela is shown to get inspiration from a poem
which, according to him, helped him to stand when all he wanted to do was to
lie down.

Monday, 19 August 2013

Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to loose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat and go onto win again, you are going to be a champion someday.

-Wilma Rudolph

Winners are not who wins every time but who knows the importance of losing also. Donald Trump said “Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes you have to give up the fight and walk away and move on to something that’s more productive.” One cannot work all the time: 24X7. One needs to take rest. One has a limited resource. One must have the faculty to distinguish between important or unimportant, worthy or worthless. It is wisdom to reserve one’s resources for meaningful purpose and surrender against meaningless goals.

I heard a story about a man who was going with his son to a market to sell a donkey. On the way, they met a person who asked “Why walk when you have a donkey to ride?" The man let his son to sit on the donkey. Soon they met another person who said "How shameful of you! Let your father ride, won't he be tired?" So, the boy got down and the man rode the donkey. Again they marched on. "Poor boy", said the next passerby they met, "why should the lazy father ride while his son is walking?" So, the boy got onto the donkey too. As they went on, they met some travelers who commented "How cruel of them! They are up to kill the poor donkey." Hearing this, the man and the son got down. Now they decided to carry the donkey on their shoulders. As they did so, the travelers broke into laughter. The laughter frightened the donkey. It broke free and galloped away. Don’t try to win every argument or situation. You cannot satisfy everyone’s need. You cannot please everyone.

We think that getting what we want brings us happiness; winning brings happiness. We all know the story of the greedy king named Midas. He had a lot of gold and the more he had the more he wanted. One day he was visited by an angel and asked to make a wish. The king was delighted and said, "I would like everything I touch to turn to gold." The angel said "Starting tomorrow morning with the sun rays you will get the golden touch." The king thought he must be dreaming, this couldn't be true. But the next day when he woke up, he touched the bed, his clothes, and everything turned to gold. He looked out of the window and saw his daughter playing in the garden. He decided to give her a surprise and thought she would be happy. But before he went to the garden he decided to read a book. The moment he touched it, it turned into gold and he couldn't read it. Then he sat to have breakfast and the moment he touched the fruit and the glass of water, they turned to gold. He was getting hungry but he couldn’t eat. Just about that time his daughter came running and he hugged her and she turned into a gold statue. There were no more smiles left. The king bowed his head and started crying. Despite winning his wish, his life became miserable and he had to live a life of a loser.

Winning is an event while winner is a spirit. By merely winning, one cannot become a winner. Winning an event may be chance but having a winner spirit could not be chance; it is something that one earns. Almost we all have heard the story of tortoise and rabbit who once raced and tortoise won and declared winner. The story goes like this. There lived a rabbit who ridiculed a slow-moving tortoise and it was decided to have a race between them. The rabbit soon left the tortoise behind and, confident of winning, took a nap midway through the course. The tortoise got tired but he kept going. When the rabbit awoke, however, he found that his competitor, crawling slowly but steadily, had arrived before him and won the race. It was a chance victory. Under normal circumstance, a rabbit could never be defeated by a tortoise. Despite the fact, tortoise was a winner. How come so? Tortoise was a winner not because he won the race but because he had winner spirit. This fact is mostly neglected and gives rise to a mind state which is self-defeating. This problem is correctly raised by Joshua Waitzkin in his statement: “Very gifted people, they win and they win and they are told that they win because they are a winner. That seems like positive thing to tell children, but ultimately what that means is when they lose, it must make them a loser.”

Olympics is a lifetime event. It was the year 1988 and the event was Seoul Olympics Finn Class race. Lawrence Lemieux was in second position with a medal almost certain but he stopped racing to help fellow competitors who were in trouble. After rescuing them, he resumed the race and finished in 22nd place out of 32 boats in the race. Even though he did not win the race, he was a winner. He was honored by kings and queens all over the world because he kept the winner spirit alive. He was also awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship. The medal has been given to only 12 athletes till date.

Winners do not play for winning but for self-integrity. Reuben Gonzales was in the final match of the racquetball tournament. This was an important event and he was playing for the world title. In the final game at match point, Gonzales played a super shot to save point. The referee and the linesman both confirmed that the shot was good and he was declared the winner. But Gonzales, after a little pause and hesitation, turned back to shake his opponent's hand and said, "The shot was faulty." As a result, he lost the serve and eventually, lost the match. Everyone was stunned. Who could imagine that a player with everything officially in his favor, with winning in his pocket, would disqualify himself and lose. When asked why he did it, Gonzales replied, "It was the only thing to do in order to maintain my integrity." He lost the match, yet he was a winner.

Winner does not work for credit but for the work done. Colonel Edward M. House wielded an enormous influence in national and international affairs while Woodrow Wilson occupied the White House. Wilson leaned upon Colonel House for secret counsel and advice more than he did upon even members of his own cabinet. What method did the Colonel use in influencing the President? Fortunately, we know, for House himself revealed it to Arthur D. Howden Smith, and Smith quoted House in an article in The Saturday Evening Post. " 'After I got to know the President,' House said, 'I learned the best way to convert him to an idea was to plant it in his mind casually, but so as to interest him in it - so as to get him thinking about it on his own account. The first time this worked it was an accident. I had been visiting him at the White House and urged a policy on him which he appeared to disapprove. But several days later, at the dinner table, I was amazed to hear him trot out my suggestion as his own.' "Did House interrupt him and say, "That's not your idea. That's mine?” Oh, no. Not House. He was too adroit for that. He didn't care about credit. He wanted results. So he let Wilson continue to feel that the idea was his. House did even more than that. He gave Wilson public credit for these ideas.

Endeavor only for winning is attachment, freedom lies in sacrifice of transitory winning over deterministic winning.

Saturday, 3 August 2013

Love and Death, move through
the world, like closest friends indeed, never far separate, and together
dominating it in a kind of triumphant superiority; and yet like bitterest
enemies, dogging each other's footsteps, undoing each other's work, fighting
for the bodies and souls of mankind.

-Edward Carpenter

Is
pain always painful? I heard a story about a tree who loved a boy very much.
Boy used to come and play in the shades of tree, climb up, swing from the
branches and eat its fruits. The tree was happy. Time went by. The child became
adolescent and found happiness in other things and abandoned playing around the
tree. The tree was left alone to live. One day, the adolescent boy was passing
beside the tree with a sad face. The tree felt the sadness inside the boy and
shouted “Come Boy, climb up my trunk, swing from my branches, eat my fruits and
play in my shade and be happy.” “I am too big to climb and play. Don’t mess.
I’m in trouble” said the adolescent boy. The tree asked “What happened? What is
the cost of your happiness?” The adolescent boy replied “I want to buy things
and have fun. I want some money.” The tree said “Don’t worry my boy. Take my fruits,
sell them in the market, earn money, have fun and be happy.” The adolescent boy
climbed up the tree, plucked fruits and left the tree alone again. But the tree
was happy for the boy. After a long time tree again saw the boy, felt alive
with joy and shouted “Come Boy, climb up my trunk, swing from my branches and
be happy.” The boy replied in hard voice “I am too busy to climb trees. I need
to expand my business far off the sea. I need a boat. I don’t know what to do?”
The tree said “Calm down Boy. Cut off my branches, build a boat and be happy.”
The boy, now a young man, did the same and again left the tree alone. But the
tree was happy for the boy. After travelling and wandering place to place. The
man returned with his wife and son and wanted to settle down. The man
introduced his son to the tree and shared the stories how he used to play
around the tree and how tree helped him time to time. Now tree is itself old
and hardly speak but whispered “You look sad what’s the matter.” The man
replied “Now I’m a married man having wife and kid. I want to settle down. I
need a house.” The tree replied “Cut down my trunk, make a house and be happy.”
The man and his son together cut down the trunk and made a house for
themselves. The tree was once again left alone. But the tree was happy for the
boy. Many years passed. This time the man was also alone. The man’s child
became young and became busy in his carrier opportunities. In meanwhile, the
man’s wife also died. He was sad. Now, he realized that the tree was his real
lover. He went to the tree. The tree greeted him properly and said “I am sorry
Boy; I have nothing left to give you. My apples are gone. My branches are gone.
My trunk is gone. I wish that I could give you something but I have nothing
left. I am just an old stump.” "I don't need very much now," said the
boy, "just a quiet place to sit and rest. I am very tired."
"Well," said the tree, straightening as much as it could, "an
old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest."
And the man did. The tree was happy for the boy. The emotions of the tree could
be expressed better in the words of Mother Teresa who said “I have found the
paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more
love.”

I heard once a lover knocked on the door of his beloved. A sound heard from
inside "who are you?" Lover replied "It's me." Another
sound heard from inside "go back there is no room for I in love."
Lover wandered and wandered for the meaning of love. After a long time he again
knocked the same door. Again same voice "who are you?" Lover replied
"It's you" Beloved said "go back when there is you there is
I" Lover realized his mistake and again knocked the door and again the
question "who are you?" This time lover replied "It's love"
and the door opened.

Love
breaks the wall of "I." Love could not be confined within any wall.
Love is infinite sky. If one see the sky from a window and think what is
visible is sky then it would be a wrong assessment. Love is not only that
reflects through the window of relationship but is the whole sky. The energy of
love passes into instincts, into the power of ideas, into creative force on
different planes of life, into images of art, into songs, sounds, music,
poetry. And we can easily imagine the same energy passing into intuition of a
higher order, into higher consciousness which will open up for us a mysterious
and miraculous world. Rumi said "This is love: to fly toward a secret sky,
to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally,
to take a step without feet."

It
is the fear of demolition of the wall of ego inside individual, the abolishment
of "I-ness," death of individuality that causes pain in love. The
death of ego is the biggest death and source of happiness. It is the feeling of
I-ness that is the cause of misery in human life. Barbara de Angelis said “Love
is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible - it cannot be seen
or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer
you more joy than any material possession could.”

A
candle burns to give light. Burning is the necessary condition for obtaining
light from a candle. Burning and light are two faces of same phenomenon. The
same is true with light of love and burning of ego and, that is why; Sufism
believes in love as "divine and a way of salvation", Buddhism's "Karuna" is egolessness, Benedict
XVI wrote his first encyclical on "God is love." One can start his
journey from either side. In fact, in Hindu mythology love and death are the
two faces of one deity. Shiva, the god of the reproductive force in nature, is
at the same time the god of violent death, murder and destruction. His wife
Parvati is the goddess of beauty, love and happiness, and she is also Kali or
Durga - the goddess of evil, misfortune, sickness and death. And Shiva and Kali
together are gods of wisdom.

Socrates
once said “By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll transcend through
love; if you get a bad one, you'll transcend through suffering.” It is a
well-known psychological fact that at moments of very intense experience, great
joy or great suffering, everything happening around seems to a man unreal, a
dream. This is the beginning of the awakening of the soul. When a man begins to
be aware, in a dream, that he is asleep and that what he sees is a dream, he awakes.
In the same way a soul, when it begins to realize that all visible life is but
a dream, approaches awakening.

Whoever is capable of seeing
beyond 'facts' begins to see many new things precisely in love and through
love.

Monday, 29 July 2013

Love is an untamed force.
When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it
enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and
confused.

–Paulo Cohelo

What
is love? Commoners say “love is coitus.” Scientists say “love is neurological
condition.” Psychologists say “love has many guises: friendship, family, couples, humanity,
narcissism etc.” Philosophers say “love is a passionate commitment.” Novelists
say “love is the driver for all the great stories.” Religions say “love is free
yet binds us.” Now, a question arises, are they talking of the same thing?

A
story pops in my mind about an elephant and the six blind men. Once, a mahout
came with his elephant in a village to show some stunts of elephant as a part
of his livelihood. News spread in the village. There lived a family of six
blind men who also heard the news. They knew nothing about elephant. They were
excited about the show but soon realized that they were not able to watch the
show. They decided it didn’t matter, at least, they could request the mahout to
let them feel the elephant by touching it after the show. They approached and
touched the elephant. One of them touched the elephant’s leg and shouted
"elephant is like a pillar." Second touched tail and shouted
"no, elephant is like a rope." Third one touched trunk and said
"you both are wrong; elephant is like a branch of tree." Fourth
shouted "don't fool yourselves; elephant is like a hand fan." He
touched its ear. The fifth man felt it like a wall by touching its belly and
the sixth person touched the tusk of the elephant and thought it as a solid
pipe.

The
problem is same with commoner, scientist, psychologist, philosopher, novelist
and religion as with the six blind men who felt the different parts of the
elephant and concluded the elephant to be that specific part. Commoner,
scientist, psychologist, philosopher, novelist and religion talk about the same
thing but with different perspective and stick to their versions.

Love
is physical but not only physical. In fact, the language of love is touch.
Suppose, someone is crying and someone other told her to stop crying, what
would happen? Would she stop crying? Well, may be or may not be. It is also
likely possible that her crying would become more loud, more intense. On the
other hand, if one wipes her tears with his hand, it is more probable that she
would stop crying. If a child is devoid
of all its attention, cuddling, hugging and touch but fed properly and timely,
it would die soon because the child would not receive a special kind of
nourishment called love.

The
language of love i.e. touch, is not only valid among humans but also understood
by the animals and is a useful tool while communicating with animals. One day
Ralph Waldo Emerson and his son tried to get a calf into the barn. Emerson
pushed and his son pulled. But the calf stiffened his legs and stubbornly
refused to leave the pasture. The housemaid saw their predicament. She put her
maternal finger in the calf's mouth and let the calf suck her finger as she
gently led him into the barn. Those who are fond of pets could better
understand what fondling and patting means.

Evolution
reveals love as a survival tool as compared to hunger. Plato also described
love as need or urge, almost impossible to stamp out; he said “the God of Love
lives in a state of need.” Evolutionary psychology emphasizes that humans
are dependent on parental help for a large portion of their lifespan
comparative to other mammals and therefore love has been seen as a mechanism to
promote parental support of children for this extended time period.

On
the other hand, evolutionary biology, explains love as a survival tool purely
on biological basis. Protozoa, the primitive cells, the progenitors of the
whole animal and vegetable kingdom grow by feeding on the minute particles
which they find in the fluid surrounding them. The growth continues, till
ultimately, reaching the limit of convenient size, a cell divides into two or
more portions; and so reproduces itself. This is called asexual reproduction.
Their life is simple: hunger, growth and propagation. This continues for many
generations without change until a time comes when the growth-power and energy
decays and the vitality diminishes. But
then a variation occurs. Two cells unite, exchange fluids, and parted again. It
is a new form of nourishment; a primitive form of love. It is a very intimate
form of nourishment; for it appears that in general the nuclei themselves of
the two cells are shared and in part exchanged. And the vitality so obtained
gives the cells a new lease of life. They are in fact regenerated. And each
partner grows again actively and reproduces itself by asexual mode of reproduction
such as binary fission, budding etc. And so far there is no distinction of sex,
in the sense of male and female.It is a union between similar; and it leads to
growth and reproduction. Later, at a certain stage in general, when “animals”
have already been formed by the conjunction of many protozoic cells in
co-operative colonies differentiation sets in, and some individuals specialize
towards activity and the chase, while others (of the same species) specialize
towards repose and assimilation. The two sets ofqualities are
clearly only useful in combination with each other; and therefore it is quite
natural that the two corresponding groups of individuals should form two great
branches in each race, diverse yet united.These two branches are the
male and female. It is in the Metazoa
generally, and those forms of life which consist of co-operative colonies of
cells, that sex-differentiation into male and female begins to decisively
assert itself. It is well developed and distinguished in complex forms of life
such as mammal. The concept of sharing of nucleic material between the two
distinguished individuals is still of primitive type and simple but its
execution has become complex. The progeny still receives its nucleic material
from both parents in the ratio of 50:50. Rolph said “the process of conjugation
is only a special form of nutrition, which occurs on a reduction of the
nutritive income, or an increase of the nutritive needs”

Sometimes love is considered
only as medium of propagation. Indeed, love is mode of propagation but not through
progenies only. Love is also a form of propagation of oneself over others. Aristotle
said “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” In my
childhood, I heard many stories of magicians who secretly kept their lives in
some birds so that they would not be killed directly. I see love is that magic
which transfers one’s life element into others which Rumi said beautifully as:

You try to be faithful

And sometimes you're cruel.

You are mine. Then, you leave.

Without you, I can't cope.

And when you take the lead,

I become your footstep.

Your absence leaves a void.

Without you, I can't cope.

You have disturbed my sleep,

You have wrecked my image.

You have set me apart.

Without you, I can't cope.

Psychological
analysis indentified three basic attributes of love as craving for emotional
union, obsessive thinking and involuntary will. Dr. Helen Fisher, an
anthropologist and leading expert in the topic of love, divides the experience
of love into three partly overlapping stages: lust, attraction, and attachment.
Lust is the feeling of sexual desire; romantic attraction determines what
partners mates find attractive and pursue, conserving time and energy by
choosing; and attachment involves sharing a home, parental duties, mutual
defense, and in humans involves feelings of safety and security. The three
circuitry systems, associated with lust, romance and attachment are
testosterone guided circuitry system, dopamine guided circuitry system and
oxytocin guided circuitry system respectively. The three worked together as
well as independently. It is due to their independency; we have attachments
with few, involved in romance with others and at the same time could sleep with
some others.

The
knowledge of how things work and the knowledge of mechanism involved is not
sufficient to start something unless one knows why it works. I heard a story
about a boy who heard Dr. Helen’s lecture on romantic love and knew about the
involvement of dopamine in it. And he knew that the moments of fear and
excitement also elevates dopamine level in brain. He loved a girl madly but she
is not in love with him. He decided to put science to work and devised a plan
to make her love him. He invited the girl for a ride with him. He bribed the
driver for rash and adventurous driving. Everything went according to the plan.
She was squealing and squeezing him and laughing and having wonderful time. An
hour later they got down off the cab and she threw her hands up and said “Wasn’t
that wonderful? Wasn’t that cab driver handsome!” Loretta Young said “Love
isn't something you find. Love is something that finds you.”

Love
is not always a golden crown but sometimes a crown of thrones. Love is always compared
to fire. It is said that love is a fire pond and one needs to cross by diving.

Saturday, 13 July 2013

A fever or pain is itself not a disease
but an immune response in a form of an indication that a struggle is started
within the body; something went wrong whether an outsider intrusion or internal
imbalance which needs immediate attention and some remedial action. The same is
true with the feeling of doubt. Doubt is an indication of somewhat disturbed
belief system which needs immediate attention and some remedial action. In the
words of William Shakespeare, “Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise.”

I heard a
story about Gautam Buddha who once was taking rest outside a village. A
passerby recognized him and greeted. He, despite being theist, asked Buddha “Do
God exist?” Buddha replied “No.” He passed with a state of despair on his face.
Another passerby asked the same question to Buddha but he was an atheist; the
reply came “Yes.” He also walked with desperate face. Third one came and said
“It doesn’t matter for me whether God exists or not, but, since I met you it is
not unwise to ask you so I am asking do god exist?” Buddha said “May be may not
be.” Buddha’s disciple sat beside him and was listening all questions and
answers and finally asked “All of them asked the same question but you replied
differently I don’t understand why? Which one is correct?” Buddha replied
sheepishly “All of them were correct for those whom given and none of them for
you. The thirst of truth could not be quenched by firm belief in prejudice but
through curiosity i.e. asking smart questions and meeting their answers. I was
just breaking prejudices of the first two and the third one was already in that
state.”

It is not
that we don’t know answers but we don’t know how to ask questions. The moments
of doubt could be used to learn asking question. Most people thought being a
part of question as failure and want to be a part of solution. It is okay but
when the same principle is applied to doubts then the opposite happens. Doubt
doesn’t teach answers but questions. It is the question that meets answer.
Dennis Palumbo, a former Hollywood
screenwriter and now a
licensed psychotherapist in private practice, said “The plain fact is, the more
willing you are to mine the landscape of your own doubts, the truer and more
recognizably human your characters will be.”

Quantum physics
reveals nature as a realm of knowledge. The physical theory has become
converted from a theory about `physically reality', as it had formerly been
understood, into a theory about human knowledge. Freedom is granted to each
experimenter to choose freely which experiment he will perform, i.e., which
aspect of nature he will probe; which question he will put to nature. Then nature
is allowed to pick an outcome of the experiment, i.e., to answer to the
question. These elements of `freedom of choice', on the part of both the human
participant and nature herself, lead to a picture of a reality that gradually
unfolds in response to choices that are not necessarily fixed by the prior
physical part of reality alone. The basic building blocks of the new conception
of nature are not objective tiny bits of matter, but choices of questions and
answers.

Doubt is
like a situation where one stands at an intersection of roads and does not know
which one is correct for his destiny; which one to choose. Doubt is a state of
mind in which one is struggling between opposite propositions and unable to
stick either of them. Doubt is not the situation of multiple choice options but
doubt against each option in terms of its validity whether it is true or not.
On the basis of logic, doubt could be understood in two ways: one in which
logic could be applied equally by both side, i.e. for the proposition or
against the proposition and second in which logic could not be applied by any
side due to lack of evidence. In either case logic could not be of much help
but faith. Logic needs axioms to spin arguments. Mark Twain said “when in doubt
tell the truth.” Truth could not be an interpretation of brainstorming but a direct
message. Truth is something that sprouts from within and requires faith to act
upon it. William James said “faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is theoretically
possible.”

A child was born in the year 570 and raised from
the milk of nomad, vicarious mothers in the desert of Arabia. He tended sheep
and soon hired out to a rich widow as leader of her caravans. In 595, the widowaged
40 and was 15 years older than he, looked upon him with favor and married him.
He continued his living as a rich and respected trader. Each year during
Ramdan, the ninth month of lunar calendar, he wandered in mountains surrounding
Mecca to refresh himself with solitude and prayer. In the year 610, at the age
of 40, the humble trader took himself on one of these retreats in the cave of
Mount Hira and suddenly found someone calling him to proclaim. He terrified and
ran out of the cave. At first, he thought, it had to have been a hallucination;
a trick of the eye or of the year or his own mind working against him. He even
thought worst about being possessed by an evil spirit to deceive him and to
crush life out of him. He was deeply distressed and resolved to commit suicide.
The man who fled down the mountain that night was in a state of stark,
primordial fear and overwhelmed not with conviction but by doubt. Slowly and
gradually he learned to have faith along with confusion and struggling. He
continued his prayer and fast. After three years, once again, he heard from the
same source “By morning brightness and by the stillness of the night, Your Lord
has not forsaken you, nor has He become displeased, and surely what comes after
is better for you than that which has gone before. And soon will your
Lord give you so that you shall be well pleased.” He was Prophet Muhammad,
founder of Islam and this was the beginning of holy Quran and faith in one
“Allah” which started with a terrifying doubt. Lesley Hazleton, author of ‘The
First Muslim’ said “It was precisely Muhammad’s doubt that brought him alive
for me, that allowed me to begin to see him in full, to accord him the
integrity of reality. And the more I thought about it, the more it made sense
that he doubted, because doubt is essential to faith.” In the words of Henry David Thoreau, “Faith keeps many doubts
in her pay. If I could not doubt, I should not believe.”

As it is said that excess of anything is bad, so
is with doubt. Excess of doubt creates fear which ultimately leads to
frustration and misery. One should make a stand and act accordingly with faith.
On the other extreme, if all doubts are abolished, then what remains is not faith
but absolute heartless conviction which leads to self-righteous arrogance.

All innovations whether scientific or spiritual are results of
doubt: doubt over existing system. They are the answers put forward by nature
as a result of the questions raised in doubts and nurtured by faith. All
religious system did not origin at the same time but gradually doubting over
the previous system as Buddhism from Hinduism and Islam and Christianity from
Judaism. But the followers stop asking questions and show their blind faith
which resulted in decline of religions because the questions have changed and
they are still giving the same old answers. If they do not assimilate current
questions then they are preparing grounds for new religions. The existence of many
religions is the outcome of fundamentalist thinking prevailing in the religion
which is not ready to accommodate new questions.

Faith has no easy answers. It involves an ongoing struggle, a
continual questioning of what we think we know a wrestling with issues and
ideas. It goes hand in hand with doubt in a never ending conversation with it
and sometimes in conscious defiance of it. What drives us is that, despite our
doubts and even because of our doubts, we reject the nihilism of despair and
insist on faith. Consider the ambivalence as put by Frederick Buechner, “If you
don’t have any doubts you’re either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the
ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.”

Faith and doubt both are needed not as antagonists, but working
side by side to take us around the unknown curve.